Sensing that she was being followed across the University of Colorado campus by a man in a blue jacket, a woman in her sophomore year turned around at some point around 2:15 a.m. and shouted, "What do you want?"

"I'm going to rape you," the man said, according to prosecutor Katharina Booth's opening statements to a jury Monday, the outset of a five-day trial for 28-year-old Andrew Souser.

Souser, who is free on $100,000 bond, is accused not only of making good on such a threat — he forced the woman against a brick wall and raped her, Booth said, until a passerby intervened and Souser ran off — but also groping another woman shortly after that attack.

His charges include sexual assault, attempting to influence a public servant, harassment and unwanted sexual contact.

Public defender Marshal Seufert argued before the 12-person jury and Boulder District Judge Maria Berkenkotter that his client has not, in fact, assaulted anyone. Rather, Seufert said, Souser provoked fear of attacks that did not happen.

"There may not be a whole lot of disagreement in this case about what some of the actual facts are," the attorney said. "What's this case about? It's about intoxication. It's about confusion. It's about fear. It's about uncertainty."

But when Booth detailed the events of the early morning of April 4, very little was ambiguous.

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Souser's alleged victim had been on University Hill with friends, when, around 2 a.m., she decided to walk across campus to her apartment just east of 28th Street, Booth said.

After stalking the woman for several minutes, Souser took advantage of her along a walkway at the university's Engineering Center, Booth said, before fellow student Max Demby heard her hysterical cry for help and ran over, prompting Souser to scramble from the scene.

The woman was left overwhelmed, sobbing and with several injuries associated with rape that a sex assault nurse examiner would later document. She was also scared, Booth said, of a number of outcomes that sex assault victims commonly fear, and which often are strong enough to dissuade reporting of such crimes.

"She's afraid people are going to blame her for walking across the campus alone in the dark," Booth said. "She's afraid that people are going to blame her because she'd been drinking all night. She's afraid that her parents are going to be mad at her."

But she did call police around 2:45 a.m. — right around the time that Souser is accused of heading west toward the Hill and attacking another woman at a bus stop, allegedly groping her until she ran off with a passerby in the direction of two officers who apprehended Souser.

Later that morning, at the campus police station, both women stood behind a one-way mirror, on the other side of which Souser stood. The first victim identified him with 100 percent certainty as her assailant, prosecutors said.

The second alleged victim said she was 70 percent sure Souser was the one who'd put his arm around her and touched her inner thigh, Booth said.

Both women are expected to testify later this week, as are forensic scientists, a nurse examiner and Demby, among others.

Police also believe Souser lied to them, accusing him of identifying as "Jake," a junior studying biochemistry. The felony charge of attempting to influence a public servant stems from that encounter.

While Souser's public defender hasn't disputed the timeline of events prosecutors lay out, he has indicated an intent to prove that all Souser did was scare people.

"You are going to hear (the rape victim) be 100 percent sure he said, 'I'm going to rape you,'" Seufert said. "But she's also going to tell you that she's unsure what, in fact, happened."

On this point, again, Booth left little grey area.

"This young man," she said, referring to Demby, "came to her aid and helped stop the sex assault that had already started ... and could have been worse, but for Max being in the right place at the right time."

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